Spout cooling apparatus



Oct. 20, 1959 J. F. wlLcox 2,909,044

SPOUT COOLING APPARATUS n Filed Aug. 1. 1955 d .nur

IN V EN TOR.

JOHN F. w/LCOX BY H TTORNEYS SPOUT COOLING APPARATUS John F. Wilcox, Excelsior, Minn., assignor to Superior Products Manufacturing Company, Minneapolis, Minn., a corporation of Minnesota Application August I1, 1955, SerialNo. '525,615

' s claims. (c1. 62-389) This invention relates to liquid coolers and dispensers and more specifically relates to apparatus for cooling liquid dispensing spouts or faucets.

In the dispensing of some liquids, such as beer, it is highly important that the discharge spout or faucet from which the liquid is drawn, be maintained in a cool condition. It is well known that when warm beer is poured into a glass a great deal of foam is formed. When cooled beer is drawn through a warm discharge spout or faucet, the rst few glasses of beer with have a deep layer of foam because the heat contained in the spout or faucet is absorbed by the owing beer until the faucet is cooled to the approximate temperature of the beer. If the discharge spout or faucet can be maintained substantially at the temperature Aof the beer between the periodic operation of the faucet for drawing beer therefrom, the foam produced will be kept at a minimum. Apparatus for cooling beer dispensing faucets have been known -before but have had various distinct disadvantages. One

major disadvantage of some such apparatus is that they are unduly expensive for the advantage provided. A major disadvantage of other types of such apparatus of a cheaper construction is that they are very insucient for cooling and maintaining the faucets at a proper temperature.

With these facts in mind, it is to the elimination of these and other disadvantages that my invention is direct- AUnited States Patent O ed along with the inclusion therein of other new and novel features.

An object of my invention is to provide new and improved apparatus of simple and inexpensive construction and operation for controlling the temperature of a liquid dispensing spout or faucet which is generally exposed to a media having a temperature which is substantially different than the desired temperature of the faucet or spout.

Another object of rny invention is the provision of novel apparatus in beer cooling and dispensing mechanism for cooling the discharge spout or faucet to a temperature very closely approximating the temperature to which the beer is cooled by such mechanism.

Y A further object of my invention is the provision of improved apparatus for drawing the cooled air from the cooling compartment of a refrigerator into close proximity with a heat conductive member connected to the discharge spout or faucet for circulating the air therearound and cooling the same to accomplish cooling of the spout.

These and other objects and advantages of my iuvention will more fully appear from the following description made in connection with the accompanying drawings wherein like reference characters refer to the same or similar parts throughout the several views and in which: Y

- Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a liquid cooling and dispensing refrigerator employing my invention;

Flg. 2 is a partial front elevation view of the refri erator shown in Fig. l and being partially broken away t0 show portions of the interior thereof; and

Patented Oct. 20, 1959 at 3--3 of Fig. 2.

In Fig. 1 a refrigerator 10 is shown having refrigerating mechanism enclosed within the attachment 11 and connected thereto. The refrigerator 10 comprises a hous-v ing 12 which, in the form shown is constructed of inner and outer laminations 13 of metal which are separated by a suitable thick layer 14 of a suitable insulating material. 'Ihe housing 12 is provided with suitable doors 15 to permit a supply of liquid such as beer barrels B to be placed within the cooling and storage compartment 16 dened by housing 12.

The cooling compartment 16 is cooled byv a cooling media 17 which, in the form shown, comprises an evaporator which consists of a gridwork adapted to permit coolant to be circulated therethrough from the refrigerator mechanism enclosed in the housing 11. The evaporator 17 is constructed to permit ow of air therelthrough in the direction of arrows D and is enclosed by a frame 18 which confines the air flow through the evaporator. Blower or fan means are mounted adjacent the outflow side of the evaporator for drawing air therethrough and for circulating air in the compartment 16. In the form shown, such blower means comprises a multiblade fan 19 which is attached to and driven by a motor 20 suitably supported as by brackets 21 from the evaporator frame 18. It will be seen that all of the air moved by the fan 19 is drawn through the evaporator within the frame 18 and therefore the evaporator frame 18 may be considered to act as conduit means directing air into the fan 19. Enclosure means comprising al casing 22 is secured on the upper portion of housing 19 and is constructed in a manner similar to that by which housing'12 is constructed, that is, with a pair of inner and outer sheet metal laminations 23 which are spaced apart by a layer 24 of suitable insulating material. The casing 22 is provided with a removable cover 25 having a gasket 26 for sealing the connection between cover 25 and enclosure 23. Cover' 25 provides a closed outer or upper end' portion for .the enclosure 23 and for the interior chamber 27 defined thereby. The inner or lower end portion of casing 22 is open so as to provide air. communication between the interior chamber 27 thereof and the ,cool Acompartment 16 of the refrigerator housing 12. As beslt seen in Fig. 2, the casing 22 is disposed above .the evaporator 17 and the interior chamber 27 thereof extends beyond the extremes of evaporator 17 in both directions.

Air bathing means are provided within the enclosure chamber 27 for defining air circulating passages therein, and in the -form shown, a pair of spaced and generally parallel air baffles 23 are mounted in chamber 27 and extend from the open inner end portion thereof into spaced relation with the closed outer end portion thereof or cover 25. Baies 2S are respectively disposed adjacent the opposite sides of the evaporator frame 18 and extend ydownwardly along the upper portions thereof.. The baflles 28 dene air lcirculating passages 29 and 30 which have air inlets 29a and 30a respectively disposed outwardly from bafes 28 toward the corresponding side walls of the casing 22. The -air circulating passages 29.and 30 have a common air outlet 31 through the open inner end portion of the `casing 22 `and between the bales `28,. The

inlets 29a and 30a communicate directly with the cooling `through the outlet 31 of the air circulating passages 29 and 30.

Air guiding means is provided for directing substantially all of the air from the air outlet 31 into the evaporator 17, and in the form shown, such means comprise a baille plate 32 extending 4transversely across the bottom edges of the baffles 2S and extending between the battles 28 and into engagement with the inner wall surface of housing 12. The bafe plate 32 will direct substantially all of the air flowing through the outlet 31 through the conduit means defined by frame 18 and into the fan 19.

Means are provided for dispensing the liquid or beer contained within the barrel B and in the form shown such means include flow means such as a tubular or hose connection 33 which extends upwardly through the casing 22 in the chamber 27. A Vdispensing faucet 34 is secured in the enclosure 22 and is provided with suitable valve means therein for controlling iiow of the liquid therethrough and a discharge spout 34a which is formed integrally thereof. A tubularheat conductive liquid inlet pipe 35 extends through the casing wall and into the interior chamber 27. The pipe 35 may be formed integrally of faucet 34 and spout 34a and is, as is the faucet 34, constructed of a heat conductive material such ask brass, iron or other metal. It shouldbe noted that a portion of pipe 35 is exposed to the air moving through the air circulating passage. The upper end portion of the ilow connection 33 is secured to the tubular heat conductor member 35.

In operation, the air will be drawn toward the suction `side of fan 19 through the evaporator gridwork 17 from the common air outlet 31 of the air circulating passages 29 land 30. As air is drawn from the outlet 31 cooled air from the cooling chamber 16 will be drawn into the inlets Y29a and 30a of the respective air circulating passages 29 and 30. The cool air moving in the passages will circulate around the exposed heat conductive tubular members 35 and around the hose connections 33 for cooling the liquid therein and for cooling the heat conductive member 35 to the extent that the faucet 34 and spout 34a will be cooled substantially to the temperautre in the cooling `compartment 16. As the air is withdrawn by Xfan 19 from the outlet 31 and .through the evaporator 17, the yair is further cooled so as to maintain the desired temperature within the compartment 16.

It has been found in operation that the temperature differential between the compartment 16 and the upper or outer closed end portion of the enclosure 22 is very small, xand that the `faucet 34 and spout 34a will maintain substantially the same temperature as exists in the cooling compartment 16. It should be noted that the -liquid contained in the hose connection 33 adjacent the faucet 34 is also maintained in a cool condition even though the hose is disposed out of the main cooling compartment 16.

It will be seen that I have provided a new and improved apparatus for cooling and maintaining in cool condition the yliquid dispensing faucet and connection thereto for dispensing liquid from a supply maintained in a refrigerator cooling compartment by drawing with the suction side ofthe fan, air from a portion of the casing 22 and thereby causing cooled air to flow into other portions thereof from the main cooling compartment and by utilization of only a single air circulating fan.

It will, of course, be -understood that various changes may be made inthe form, detail, arrangement and proportion of the parts without departing from the scope of my invention which consists of the matter `described herein Iand set forth in the appended claims.

' What is claimed is:

1. In apparatus for dispensing and cooling beer, said apparatus comprising a refrigerator having a housing defining a cooling compartment adapted to receive a keg of beer, the housing having a top wall with an elongated opening therein, a casing secured on the top wall .of the housing and defining an interior chamber having -a closed outer end and an inner end with an elongated opening communicating with the opening in the top wall,

a liquid-dispensing spout mounted on the casing and having a heat-conductive member projecting into said chamber and cooled by the air circulating therethrough and causing cooling of the spout, a beer conduit connected with said spout and connectible to the beer keg, a pair of spaced upright divider walls extending across the opening in the top wall and across the chamber, said divider walls being spaced from the ends of the opening and extending into spaced relation with the closed outer end of the casing and said divider walls defining an air flow outlet area therebetween, the refrigerator including au upright air cooling gridwork on the inner side of the top wall at one side of the opening therein and between said divider walls, said gridwork having an air ingress side adjacent the opening and also having an air egress side, fan means mounted in the compartment adjacent the top wall and at the egress side of the gridwork for drawing air therethrough, said divider Walls extending downwardly Vfrom the said top wall and each engaging at one edge, the gridwork, and wall means extending between the other upright 4edges and the V'bottom edges of the divider walls and detining a depending extension of the air flow outlet area communicating directly with the ingress side of the gridwork, whereby to draw the air over the heat conductive member in the `chamber' and directlyr from the outlet area into the gridwork.

2. The invention set forth in claim 1 wherein the depending outlet area extends downwardly to a position intermediate the top and bottom edges of the gridwork.

3. In apparatus for dispensing and cooling beer, said apparatus comprising a refrigerator having a housing defining a cooling compartment adapted to receive a lkeg of beer, the housing having a top wall with an elongated opening therein, a casing secured ou the top wall of the housing and defining an interior chamber having a closed outer end and an open inner end communicating with said opening, a liquid-dispensing spout mounted on the casing and having a heat-conductive member projecting into said chamber and cooled by the air circulating therethrough and causing cooling of the spout, a beer conduit connected with said spout and connectible to the beer keg, a pair of spaced upright walls extending across said opening and downwardly therefrom, one of said walls being spaced rfrom one end of the opening and extending upwardly into spaced relation with the closed outer end of the casing, said wallsr dening an air-ow outlet area therebetween, and said one wall and said one. end of the opening defining an air-ow inlet area for sup plying air upwardly into the casing, the refrigerator'including an upright air-cooling gridwork on the inner side of the top wall at one side of the opening therein and between said walls, said gridwork having an air ingress side adjacent the opening and also having 'an air egress side, `fan means mounted in the compartment adjacent the top Wall and at the egress side of the gtidwork for drawing air therethrough, said walls each engaging at one edge, the gridwork, and Wall means extending between the other upright edges and the bottom edges of the divider walls and defining a closed air-ow outlet communicating directly with the ingress side of the gridwork, whereby to draw the air over the conductive member in the chamber and directly from the outlet area into the gridwork.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,506,843 Seiler May Y9, 1950 l. indd-x., 

